Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

No one could have predicted…

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

You can’t love your country only when you win.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

The words do not have to be perfect.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

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102Comments

  6. 6.

    Poopyman

    In the morning I go to the laundromat, in the afternoon I wait for the Whirlpool repairman. Taking a day off work for a 4 year old washer. Nearly guaranteed that the guy won’t have the necessary (electronic) part. The total costs of repair and lost wages threaten to exceed the cost of a new washer.

  7. 7.

    Randy P

    Sipping coffee at a cafe-bookstore in Milan. Very wet here, been raining all week, and Venice was literally underwater. But who cares? It’s freaking Italy!

    Just a short trip while my wife attends an academic conference. But I’ll take it.

  8. 8.

    Mustang Bobby

    They don’t say whether the wine glass was full or not.

    When I first skimmed the article, I swear I saw that the llama-keeper spat at the monkey-handler, which would be in keeping with the behavior of llamas.

  9. 9.

    Satby

    I’m ramping up for the holiday season in my store, and yesterday spent 4 hours in the car just driving teenagers places or driving home from driving them places. I forgot how exhausting that can be… and my ancient car’s scrappy mileage is not helping me remain solvent.
    But we do have great talks and bonding over music and the increasingly spectacular fall colors, and I am so glad to have them here!

  11. 11.

    Mike in DC

    I doubt that it’s a Dyson sphere but if it is, compared to those guys we’re all still monkeys flinging poo at each other.

  12. 12.

    opiejeanne

    Trying to go back to sleep. It’s 3:14am and the very noisy thunderstorm has finally moved on after 5 hours.
    Our bed is on the second floor of this little mountain cabin, tucked into a gable. Our noses are only a few feet below the roof, and I can attest to the fact that it’s not as romantic as you might think. Being wakened by rapid flashes so bright that we saw them through our eyelids, and immediate thunder like the end of the world is very exciting.
    We had hail like ice cubes at times, followed by torrential rain, and I’m honestly glad we do not have a tin roof like place next door.
    Our poor cat.

  14. 14.

    sparrow

    Ugh, it’s officially 4 in the afternoon in India but I feel like I would pay all of my monies to get out of this conference and go to bed.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    So it was just a few rogue engineers cheating with the software, eh?

    Volkswagen: secret emissions tool in 2016 cars is separate from ‘defeat’ cheat

    US regulators say they have a lot more questions for Volkswagen, triggered by the company’s recent disclosure of additional suspect engineering of 2016 diesel models that potentially would help exhaust systems run cleaner during government tests.

    I expect this problem to be addressed by our Republican Congress in the next EPA budget.

  20. 20.

    Another Holocene Human

    @opiejeanne: Maybe that’s why the peasants favored thatch-roof cottages (cottages! Trogdor comes in the night!). Sound-cancellation.

  23. 23.

    opiejeanne

    @Another Holocene Human: this was so violent that I would expect a shower of spiders and other things if we had a thatched roof with no ceiling above us. It was bad enough finding the trophy-sized spider in the tub when we went downstairs a while ago.
    Must make a serious effort to sleep now. The cat has finally joined us so we can comfort her with our snoring.

  26. 26.

    Another Holocene Human

    @OzarkHillbilly: They had some guys on the radio yesterday with amusing Akzenten talking about how they felt it was ambition that led to the misdeeds in the company and VW was not going to fix anything by leaving the same crew in charge. Apparently the finance guy they elevated to the board was one of the “Make VW #1 at any cost” crew.

    Again impressed by the education and sophistication of Germany’s technical classes. They speak flawless English, they’re well versed on an array of technical topics (on which they speak with precision), and dip into a little practical philosophy and psychology as well, and they think for themselves.

    Germany has invested in education, especially STEM (but to go into academia, where they have federal funding, or to go into high paying technical jobs or very good paying factory floor jobs because part of Germany’s industrial strategy is to build not the cheaper tool, but the highest quality tool that buyers, especially other businesses, will pay a premium for … if you open a factory in the US today your manufacturing equipment will very likely be made in Germany … bottom line it’s about creating a very technically skilled workforce, not a cheap mass to get industry’s costs down), while the US has been on a campaign to systemically dismantle education.

    US education used to be a leader in teaching students how to think for themselves. The testing regime is intended–and is successful–in pushing this entirely out of the classroom and beating into students that they must learn by rote and regurgitate. This kids now? I’ve never run into such docile, polite, and helpless students. That is high stakes testing at work. They took the Euro model and exceeded it. It was never clear that the Euro model added much value anyway. France was in love with high stakes testing and look at them. Look at their multiple high profile failures of industrial policy and their state-quasi-private concerns stuffed at the top with high scoring polytechnic grads who ran them into the ground. The US was supposed to be nimble and agile and all that shit. Sillycon Valley is very enamored of this idea. Meanwhile they too are trying to destroy US education. Good work. Pull up the ladder, boys.

    It’s the hand a fish or teach to fish of education. We used to understand it was better to teach the students to fish. After all, knowledge is a moving target. Once it’s printed in textbook for digestion, it’s generally out of date. (Unless it’s a math text. Ironically, the 60s math texts I used in school were superior to the heavier than bricks 90s math texts I used.) Being creative is a major competitive advantage. But this is exactly what we’ve chosen to devalue.

    I think our days of being outcompeted by the Europeans are coming to a middle. We’re stuck on stupid.

  28. 28.

    NorthLeft12

    I see that the Michigan woman who shot at the fleeing shoplifters in the Home Depot parking lot was charged with recklessness. Possible ninety days in jail and a $500 fine.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34530646

    That seems pretty light to me. I wonder if this could also include the loss of her conceal carry permit or [gasp!] even her right to own guns?

  29. 29.

    Another Holocene Human

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well, monkeys and apes are supposed to have diverged over 25 million years ago (before God created Creation, natch), so that is truly extraordinary! Somebody locate Zombie Leonard Nimoy (In Search Of…).

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: Heh. I always think of libertarians as mythological creatures right along side unicorns and mermaids.

    “I think a lot of you moved out West, or your parents or your great-grandparents, you came out here to be left alone,” Paul told The Washington Post’s Katie Zezima this summer. “Some came looking for land, some came looking for opportunity, but the thing is — most of us — it’s an American thing to want to be left alone.”

    What Paul and every other libertarian neglects to add is the phrase, “but my neighbors over there…”

  31. 31.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Another Holocene Human:

    We’re stuck on stupid.

    As long as we have public school boards that allow “intelligent design” and other faerie tales to be taught as science or at least on equal footing, and when slaves are referred to as “workers,” we’ll be stuck there for a while.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I’ve also noticed that libertarians haven’t been as prolific in talking about police reform since BLM came on the scene. I’ve come across fewer at least.

  35. 35.

    Kay

    Another absolutely horrible idea from Arne Duncan:

    In a paper released today, investor GSV Advisors estimated that money spent on education could expand to four percent of the capital markets by 2025. “This represents a mind-blowing trillion dollar opportunity,” the report said.
    Some in the higher education community worry that pumping federal student aid money into these private-sector providers could attract slick salesmen with an ability to work the new system.

    Duncan is a disaster. That Obama foisted this personal friend of his on the US public is the single worst thing the President did. Duncan resigned, he’s gone in January, but it doesn’t matter. He’s still busy promoting private sector education, every freaking day. He’s actually picked up the pace since he announced his resignation- it’s like he has to do as much damage as possible in the remaining month of his term.

    They know there’s huge corruption in for-profit education. It has been news since 2010. There’s simply no excuse for this- one of two things is true- 1. Duncan is an absolute moron or 2. Duncan is hopelessly corrupt. I guess both things could be true, because #1 is really beyond question at this point. The US Secretary of Education is just not a smart or capable person. He was way over-promoted and he never should have gotten the job.

  40. 40.

    gene108

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Did the kids finally get off your lawn? Or were you, like Abe Simpson, just angrily yelling at a cloud Old Timer?

    The kids are all right.

    They’ve been all right, since when I was a kid and we were told by the grown ups how much we sucked compared to them and how awesome things were in the 1950’s and 1960’s because we wasted time on our Atari 2600’s and did not pay attention wanderind around listening to our Walkman’s or Boom Boxes.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Missouri Man Tries To Put Out Garbage Fire With Van Full Of Live Ammunition

    This was in…. wait for it… Liberty, Misery!

    The van’s owner, who the report did not identify, allegedly told the deputy that he attempted to quash the flames by driving the vehicle back and forth over them until the tires also caught fire. He said he evacuated the area at that point because he realized that the van was full of firearms ammunition and had a full tank of gas, according to the report.

    @Mustang Bobby: I blame the schools.

  42. 42.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Mustang Bobby: It seems pretty likely to be permanent, given how insistent the fundagelicals are about it. Because this was founded as a Christian nation (by all those deists) you know. Who imported workers before even work visas.

    And hundreds came out to pray that school board meetings start with a Christian prayer, just like G*d intended, because First Amendment. Which of course they only know part of, just like the Second. Was it Texas?

  45. 45.

    NorthLeft12

    @OzarkHillbilly: I was talking to my brother and brother-in-law who were/are mechanical engineers in the auto industry and we had a good laugh over the whole idea that a few rogue engineers were responsible for the VW mess. I am also an engineer, and our discussion focused more on what would motivate them to do something like this. Without being told by managers higher up in the food chain at VW.

    There is absolutely no gain for the engineers involved in this to do this on their own. They would be taking a huge risk [their jobs and any future job] for absolutely no reward. It would have to be a secret, so no one who could reward them could know, as they were equally likely to fire them instead of reward them. Based on the testing and inspection of any new change to a vehicle, there was a high probability that the cheat would be found, and their fingerprints would be all over it. This cheat would probably need the co-operation of a couple of different teams with intimate knowledge of the problem and the fix. Rogue engineers would have a very difficult, and dangerous, task to organize that.

    I am a Professional Engineer here in Canada, and I would expect that the engineers who participated in this scheme would be disciplined by the society for unethical behavior. Loss or license to practice engineering would be a likely punishment. Although there are a lot of engineering jobs that do not require you to be a Professional Engineer.

    I am amazed by this scandal as I would have felt that at least one or two engineers would have complained within the group that the task was unethical and illegal, and would have warned how awful the consequences would be when it was discovered……because these things are always discovered. There is an interesting case study here and I would be very interested in reading it.

  47. 47.

    Punchy

    Cant link but TPM has blurb about TN county wanting to raise Confed flag, just as rest of the nation disses it. Textbook Cleek’s.

  48. 48.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Ted Mitchell, the Duncan hire who is the promoter of this policy, came from for-profit education and he should never have been hired. Duncan’s entire shop is stacked with profiteers like this. They’re the only people he hires. Baud, they can’t regulate the for-profit colleges they have now, the giant rip-off “portfolio”- they’re adding a whole new group of contract providers and a whole new layer of “authorizers”? It is insane.

    Duncan just awarded 71 million dollars to Ohio for new charter schools. Ohio has the worst charter sector in the country, well, we’re tied for last place tied with Nevada. Guess who else got a huge grant? Nevada.

    I read the application Ohio submitted that was “reviewed” by the USDOE. There are two flat-out lies in it about Ohio law and they either omitted or falsified numerous stats on charter schools in this state. It’s not like it’s hard to find! The Ohio charter school statute is part of the state code and Ohio newspapers report on the problems nearly every day and have for a year. The Kasich hacks put that application together and Duncan rubberstamped it. It’s fiction. Half of it isn’t true. 71 million dollars, to John Kasich, so he can expand his charter school empire.

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    re: the astronomy story –

    Reminded of an SF story (title and author escape me). A totally purple star is found by a deep space interstellar survey, and most scientists unite in twisting physics and chemistry to explain it, finally coming up with a supposedly workable stellar history involving mercury as the star’s primary element, all the while ignoring a competing group which posits it is proof of alien life, a life which creates stars of composition and types not found in nature. Why? Probably just for fun, because they can, is the crux of that theory.

    The mercury hypothesis is eventually polished and presented. No sooner is that done than word comes of another discovery of an inexplicable star – this time it’s plaid.

  51. 51.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Kay: I don’t see how for-profit education can ever be anything but corrupt. Every penny of profit comes out of teacher salaries, book in the library, supplies, basically out of education.

    I once taught at “non-profit” college that ran a million dollar “overage” every year. The president got a bonus based on the size of the overage.

  52. 52.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I blame liberals. If we had let Wall Street take Social Security and Medicare money, they wouldn’t be so interested in education money.

    Ohio has the worst charter sector in the country, well, we’re tied for last place tied with Nevada. Guess who else got a huge grant? Nevada

    Moral hazard for thee, not for me.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    It’s pretty clear in Ohio! Charter teachers make 40% less than public school teachers. I mean, come on. Where is that 40% going? My son had a math teacher in 5th grade who came from a charter school. She left because she couldn’t make her student loan payment and her car payment.on what was basically 16 dollars an hour. For people who claim to rely on “markets” they must realize that if public school teachers are making 40% more we’re going to attract the younger teachers who work for 2 years in a charter to get some time under their belt and then get the hell out, which is exactly what this person did.

    The grant was front page news in Ohio. People were flabbergasted. I think ever major newspaper had an editorial wondering why the hell President Obama is enthusiastically supporting this.

  56. 56.

    Tom

    While my wife is at her day program, I’m going to see if I can get some writing done. The deadline for my current stuff is tomorrow but my client gave me a bunch of updates earlier this week so I’m going to have to go back over stuff I’ve already submitted and edit it.

    Of course, a nap would be nice, too.

  58. 58.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    For people who claim to rely on “markets” they must realize that if public school teachers are making 40% more we’re going to attract the younger teachers who work for 2 years in a charter to get some time under their belt and then get the hell out, which is exactly what this person did.

    Only one way to stop that!

  59. 59.

    EZSmirkzz

    Just wondering, if I take the wings off of an old super-sonic Concorde would you ride the high speed bus?

  60. 60.

    Matt McIrvin

    @NorthLeft12:

    I am a Professional Engineer here in Canada, and I would expect that the engineers who participated in this scheme would be disciplined by the society for unethical behavior. Loss or license to practice engineering would be a likely punishment. Although there are a lot of engineering jobs that do not require you to be a Professional Engineer.

    The people being blamed would have been embedded software “engineers”, like me. I don’t know if they have to be licensed in Germany, but they certainly don’t here.

    But I agree that there would be absolutely no reason for them to come up with this cheat unless somebody was telling them to, and promising cover.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Right. Get rid of the public school teachers, then they can all make 40% less and it’ll be “competitive”. I don’t want to pay taxes toward policy that drives down wages. That directly harms my community. For Democrats to be doing this in a profession that is something like 70% women is just shameful and extraordinarily hypocritical. A war on women indeed- forget birth control- what about their wages and economic security?

  63. 63.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The people being blamed would have been embedded software “engineers”,

    And the automotive engineers who asked the software engineers to “fix” the problem because they could not. And the managers above them who needed “clean diesel” in order to have a viable product to sell…. It’s all a crock.

  65. 65.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    A war on women indeed- forget birth control- what about their wages and economic security?

    The Republicans were right about us, right, Kay?

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    They haven’t been able to pin Clinton down (or Sanders, actually) and obviously it’s a problem for Democrats because Obama is the Democratic incumbent but I read Clinton’s responses to the NEA survey (which were leaked and might be unreliable) and my sense is she gets it. I hope so. She can’t hire another Duncan. Public schools won’t survive another one, after 8 years of Bush and then 8 years of Obama.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Forget that, Baud. In my opinion, Duncan would not have gotten away with this in a profession (traditionally) dominated by men. I cannot imagine the outrage from lawyers if a bunch of business and tech people were hired to “reform” the profession, and it’s doubly offensive because half of these edu-hacks ARE lawyers. It’s incredibly patronizing. Duncan leads forums to “empower” teachers where he encourages “voice”. It’s 1990’s corporate bullshit meant to make up for lowering wages. He’s making them into pretend “managers” to cover the fact that he supports low wage policy. That’s right out of the 1990’s playbook that got us here. They don’t work in the private sector so they’re not familiar with his private sector slogan-based bullshit, but everyone else in the world heard the same thing in 1993. It was BS when they sold it in the private sector and it’s BS in the public sector.

  68. 68.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Baud:

    Education did not come up in the first debate.

    It sorta did, when the topic was plans for free college tuition and whether Trumps kids should get free tuition or not.

    But, yeah, it didn’t get much time. But maybe that’s a good thing. Policy by sound-bite isn’t usually a good approach. It takes time to discuss nuance and important caveats.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  69. 69.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    They know there’s huge corruption in for-profit education. It has been news since 2010. There’s simply no excuse for this- one of two things is true- 1. Duncan is an absolute moron or 2. Duncan is hopelessly corrupt.

    I’ll take #2 for $500, Alex. I can’t think of a single area where for-profit anything has not become mired in corruption.

    I listened to a segment this morning on NPR about Texas companies privatizing workman’s compensation. Workers/widows are of course getting screwed to the wall with far less compensation, to the point they are unable to survive financially. The only hope is that they’re now allowed to sue, but then knowing the Texas courts…

  70. 70.

    Thoughtful Today

    [sigh]

    Neoliberalism riddled the Clinton administration, Obama largely extended and expanded on that ……… legacy. It’s a huge part the current Democratic Party.

    ‘Better than (R)’s’, absolutely.

    An absolutely low bar.

  73. 73.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Right. From Propublica. There’s another non-profit news source in Texas, The Texas Tribune, and they did a story on it last year. I’m so glad NPR is promoting it. Everyone understands that if employers don’t insure injured workers it falls on the public to take care of them, right? Are people starting to get how this works? There’s example after example of the private sector shifting risk to the public. At some point one would think the public would figure out this scam- they’ll pay for it.

  74. 74.

    gene108

    @debbie:

    I think the problem is Texas being Texas, with regards to screwing over the least among us.

    Most employers in most states, with the exception of Ohio and an other one where the state manages worker’s comp, purchase private worker’s comp policies to cover their work force and business location.

  75. 75.

    Cervantes

    @Kay:

    That Obama foisted this personal friend of his on the US public is the single worst thing the President did.

    It’s a crying shame.

  76. 76.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @Thoughtful Today: Without eve clicking, I will interject: Nestle owns the brands Poland Spring, Perrier, San Pellegrino, and others from places that are not drought-stricken. Well, not at this very moment.

    Even NPR knows that Bechtel is an epithet for goods which were fine when public and ruined when privatized. Nestle is somehow escaping mainstream scrutiny for this. I hope it doesn’t end with a Nestle Army protecting their water rights.

  79. 79.

    EZSmirkzz

    Also, too, should I ask my girl to wear purple because I can’t arrange a rhyme for orange?

  80. 80.

    srv

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will keep 5,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when he leaves office in 2017, according to senior administration officials, casting aside his promise to end the war on his watch and instead ensuring he hands the conflict off to his successor.

    Someone’s surge didn’t work.

  82. 82.

    Cervantes

    @Thoughtful Today:

    Cass Sunstein’s appointment is on my short list of ‘worst’ appointments.

    Why? What are your particular complaints?

    (I don’t necessarily disagree with the gist.)

  83. 83.

    Thoughtful Today

    @Cervantes:

    Cass Sunstein is a hardcore libertarian with a soft-face who single handedly stopped many decent regulations from being enforced. His appointment to the OIRA laid naked what many were trying to excuse about the Obama administration.

    In a sense he was a ‘final straw’ in my attempt at making excuses for Obama.

    I recognize him as a neoliberal shill who was handed vast powers that served corporate interests at the expense of American’s health.

    Sometimes he was just nakedly political, this is a quick link:

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/16/1263034/-WaPo-Cass-Sunstein-Not-So-Gently-Nudged-Regulations-Away-From-Election-Season

    Sorry I don’t have the time to find a more comprehensive source, I’ve stumbled across them before, there are some excellent ones that tried to make lists of the number of regulations that Sunstein either eliminated, pushed down the line, or severely watered down.

    iirc, the OIRA was put in place by the Reagan administration to slow down Federally enacted regulations in order to serve corporate interests. Obama’s appointment of Sunstein continued that ….. legacy.

  84. 84.

    Felonius Monk

    Imagine what could have happened if the meerkat or the monkey or the llama had been carrying a gun.

  85. 85.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Big R: Was he the guy who declared himself ombudsman around here until everybody laughed at him, or was that the other guy? I can never keep them straight.

  86. 86.

    Brachiator

    @Big R:

    Freddie deBoer gets in an Internet slapfight

    Sweet Moses, this stuff is pathetic, but funny. You can always count on Little Freddie for finding that sweet spot of ideological idiocy in any discussion.

    I swear he is David Brook’s unacknowledged bastard progeny. In the land of Game of Thrones, he would be known as Freddie Snow.

  87. 87.

    rikyrah

    I can’t wait to see this.
    I went and checked on Amazon – you can rent it for $6.99.
    ………………

    In Theaters as Well as on Amazon and iTunes TODAY: Nelson George’s Misty Copeland Doc – A Ballerina’s Tale’

    By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and Act

    October 14, 2015 at 7:38PM

    Sundance Selects opens Nelson George’s documentary, “A Ballerina’s Tale” – a film about one of the most notable and trailblazing figures in the ballet world, Misty Copeland – today, October 14.

    Directed and written by George, produced by Leslie Norville, and executive produced by Dorria L. Ball, Ingrid Graham and Copeland, the film provides a behind-the-curtain look at the daily life of Copeland, the first African American female soloist at New York’s American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in two decades. On June 30, 2015, Copeland became the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT’s 75-year history.

    http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/in-theaters-as-well-as-on-amazon-and-itunes-today-nelson-georges-misty-copeland-doc-a-ballerinas-tale-20151014

  89. 89.

    Paul in KY

    @Another Holocene Human: Completely reckless (IMO) to think that their cars would never be emissions tested while being driven. Not too damn hard to do, if you want.

    These cars are polluting RIGHT NOW!!!!

  90. 90.

    Paul in KY

    @Another Holocene Human: I would say a good comparison, though. If you have the technology to place millions of structures into solar orbit, etc. You would have ‘Godlike’ technology, compared to what we have right now (IMO).

  92. 92.

    Mnemosyne

    @gene108:

    California has state workers’ comp. If I’m reading my paystub correctly, I pay a small tax towards (or at least towards something called state disability).

    It came in handy when I fell off a stepstool at work, landed directly on the outside of my knee, and ripped my ACL. Workers’ comp paid for every cent of the physical therapy, surgery, and medication.

  95. 95.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @rikyrah:

    I think ballet is the last of the live performing arts that still had a color barrier, thanks to the ghost of George Balanchine and his mania for making sure all of the ballerinas onstage looked exactly the same, right down to skin tone. Theater and opera have done much, much better at colorblind casting and it’s now more noteworthy when there is an all-white cast than when there isn’t. (“Hamilton” is getting a bit of attention for deliberately casting African-Americans as white historical figures, but they did that for a specific purpose and it’s mostly the artistic choice that’s being talked about.)

    Now if only we can get Hollywood to be more regular about colorblind casting and not leave it up to individual directors. Even TV is better about it than movies are.

  97. 97.

    Calouste

    @NorthLeft12: Volkswagen has had a pretty rotten corporate culture dating back to at least the 1990s, or even the 1980s. They hired Jose Igacio Lopez from GM, and touted him as the golden boy because he was famous for squeezing the last drop out of suppliers, leaving many of them on the brink. Then a few years later they had to sack him because he had stolen plans from GM, which they used anyway.

    Funnily enough, you can’t find anything about Mr. Lopez on Wikipedia.

  101. 101.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    @NorthLeft12:

    am amazed by this scandal as I would have felt that at least one or two engineers would have complained within the group that the task was unethical and illegal, and would have warned how awful the consequences would be when it was discovered……because these things are always discovered. There is an interesting case study here and I would be very interested in reading it.

    I have two hypothetical scenarios:

    1. The engineers were given the mandate by senior management to pass US emissions tests, by any means necessary, and we don’t need to know the details.

    2. Someone toward the middle of the chain made promises his or her engineers could not keep, instructed the engineers to fake it, and lied to upper management about it.

    Both are based on personal experience in various software companies. I’ve lived the stereotype of working on a non-functional pile of junk that’s six months away from being anywere near ready to ship, while my boss’s boss is telling his bosses that not only is the product complete and working and wonderful, it’s shipping right now.

    That didn’t end well.

    We’d all like to think we’d do the principled thing. Instead, we worked insane hours polishing the turd enough to where it wouldn’t crash the installer outright, at which point we’d ship and start patching bugs as they came in from the field.

  102. 102.

    redshirt

    This “alien” thing is actually super interesting as in there’s really no good explanation for the data we’re seeing. Known exoplanets that are bigger than Jupiter take up less than 1% of a star’s light using the Kepler method of detection. Consider that current theory states that planets can’t get too much bigger than Jupiter without becoming a Brown Dwarf or in fact a star.

    So for something to take up 20%, and seemingly do it in non-predictable patterns, is something to note.

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